Memory cards are known in the art and contain intelligence in the form of a memory circuit or other electronic program. Some form of card reader reads the information or memory stored on the cad. Such cards are used in many applications in today's electronic society, including video cameras, digital still cameras, smartphones, music players, ATMs, cable television decoders, toys, games, PC adapters, multi-media cards and other electronic applications. Typically, a memory card includes a contact or terminal array for connection through a card connector to a card reader system and then to external equipment The connector readily accommodates insertion and removal of the card to provide quick access to the information and program on the card. The card connector includes terminals for yieldingly engaging the contact array of the memory card. Ejecting devices often are provided for facilitating inserting and ejecting the memory card to and from the card connector.
Because of the extensive use of memory cards in the many applications described above, the size and shape of many memory cards have become fairly standard. Correspondingly, the size of memory card connectors have become fairly standard. However, with the progress of miniaturization of many electronic devices, miniaturization of corresponding memory cards has also been realized. As a result, the card connectors designed for use with larger, standard memory cards cannot be used with the miniature cards without some modifications. Therefore, several types of adapters have been designed for mounting or inserting miniature cards into standard card connectors.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-233887 discloses an adapter for a card-like memory board. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-83434 discloses a card-like adapter for a miniature thin card. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-3416 discloses a contact adapter for a chip card. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-214971 discloses an adapter for a Compact Flash card.
In the prior art adapters for card connectors as enumerated above, the adapter has one type of terminals provided at one end thereof for connection to the contacts of the card connector, and another type of terminals inside the adapter for connection to the contacts of the miniature card. These two types of terminals are electrically connected to each other by a circuit board installed in the adapter. For instance, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-233887, above, reference numeral 4 in FIGS. 1 and 3 represents an electrical connection means corresponding to that circuit board. In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-83434, above, reference numeral 16 in FIG. 1 represents a connection means that corresponds to the circuit board. In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-3416, above, reference numeral 21 in FIG. 3 represents means that correspond to the circuit board. In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-214971, above, reference numeral 8 in FIG. 1 represents means that correspond to the circuit board.
Accordingly, the card connector adapters of the prior art include a built-in circuit board and two types of terminals each for connection with a card connector and with a miniature card. This causes problems and considerable expenses in that increased numbers of components, complicated construction and higher manufacturing costs are dominant. The present invention is directed to solving these various problems described above.